News and research before you hear about it on CNBC and others. Claim your 2-week free trial to StreetInsider Premiumhere.

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ), a global medical device company, today announced results of the MOMENTUM 3 U.S. IDE Clinical Study during a late-breaking clinical trial session at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions in New Orleans. The MOMENTUM 3 study compared the HeartMate 3™ Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS) to the HeartMate II™ LVAS in treating advanced stage heart failure and is the largest LVAD trial in the world to evaluate both short-term and long-term patients in a single study. The study results demonstrated patients receiving the HeartMate 3 LVAS had an 86.2 percent survival rate with freedom from disabling stroke and reoperation to repair or replace the device.

The MOMENTUM 3 IDE study is a prospective, multi-center, randomized, unblinded, study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the HeartMate 3 LVAS when used for the treatment of advanced, refractory, left ventricular heart failure. More than 1,000 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class IIIB or IV heart failure are participating in the study. Patients are being followed for a short-term endpoint of six months, and a long-term endpoint of two years. Current data show the results at the six-month follow-up in the first 294 patients enrolled.

The primary endpoint for the study was six months survival with freedom from disabling stroke and reoperation to repair or replace the device. The study met its primary endpoint (non-inferiority P<0.0001; superiority P=0.037). There were no pump thrombosis events reported in patients who were implanted with HeartMate 3 LVAS at six months, confirming the results observed with the HeartMate 3 LVAS in the CE Mark trial. Rates of all other adverse events were similar between the HeartMate 3 LVAS and historical rates seen in the HeartMate II LVAS, which is the most widely used and extensively studied LVAD commercially available. This study included all-comers, which means researchers evaluated the device regardless of whether the patient needed a short-term support option while awaiting transplantation or a long-term support option for those who are not candidates for cardiac transplantation.

“The Heartmate 3 LVAS improved clinical outcomes in the MOMENTUM 3 study by avoiding the need for surgical reoperation to replace or remove the pump due to pump thrombosis,” said Dr. Mandeep R. Mehra, medical director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center in Boston. “More importantly, these clinical gains occurred without an increase in other adverse events, providing important therapeutic progress for our advanced heart failure patients.”

The HeartMate 3 LVAS is a small, implantable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device for advanced heart failure patients who are awaiting transplantation or are not candidates for heart transplantation. It is the first commercially approved (CE marked) LVAD with Full MagLev™ technology, designed to minimize complications and restore blood flow. The HeartMate 3 system utilizes Full MagLev technology, which allows the device’s rotor to be “suspended” by magnetic forces. This design aims to reduce trauma to blood passing through the pump and improve outcomes for patients.

“These data in the MOMENTUM 3 study represent the continued advancement in therapy options available for patients living with debilitating heart failure,” said Dr. John B. O’Connell, vice president and medical director for mechanical circulatory support at St. Jude Medical. “The HeartMate II LVAS is an extremely important medical advancement with more than 24,000 implants having occurred to date, and it is the only LVAD approved for both Bridge-to-Transplant and Destination Therapy options in the U.S. The data, now being seen with the HeartMate 3 LVAS, show that we are taking the next steps in advancing medical therapy options.”

The HeartMate 3 LVAS is CE Mark approved and limited by federal law to investigational use in the United States.

About Heart Failure

Heart failure is a widespread, chronic condition that develops when the heart muscle weakens and is unable to pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body. Heart failure worsens over time and is typically caused by persistent high blood pressure, heart attack, valve disease and other forms of heart disease or birth defects. Left untreated, the lack of adequate blood flow causes the organs to progressively fail, resulting in numerous medical complications that deteriorate a person’s quality of life.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA) and the Heart Failure Society of American (HFSA), about 6 million Americans are living with heart failure today, and 670,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. In the United States, the number of deaths from this condition has more than doubled since 1979.1